Originally Posted by
BluSdUp
So, Boeing is brilliant at building aircraft!
Charter trips: Not so much!
Eh?
Actually most of the trips I was involved with that were set up by flight test have been nearly flawless. When we needed to go to British Airways to do a flight test, they always set us up in a nice place in London for a few days to 'acclimate' before heading off to Cardiff to do the actual testing (and London is not a bad place to 'acclimate'). Biggest complaint prior to Iqaluit was a flight test at Delta in Atlanta when the hotel they booked us into was in the middle of a major renovation.
The trip to Iqaluit was the exception - but that may have been because it was a huge rush. When we found out about the problem, (and my good friend who was responsible for certifying engine starting told management what had happened in Anchorage was not certifiable) we were rapidly running out of winter (late March IIRC) so it was a thrash to find someplace where it was going to be cold enough, then set everything up and go test. And it takes a small army when it's Boeing's aircraft - flight test personnel, mechanics and ground personnel, engineering, GE support people to program the changes in the FADEC s/w, between 50 and 60 people total. I think we were told on a Friday that it was forecast to be cold enough in Iqaluit and we left early Monday so we could test Tuesday.